


Holiday Sweetness

by withinmelove



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Adorable, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 11:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2810021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withinmelove/pseuds/withinmelove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A secret santa prompt where Chris and Zach are single and alone on the holidays. So they decide to get together and stew but spiked eggnog has a way of changing that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holiday Sweetness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jouissant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jouissant/gifts).



Christmas is a holiday that is much better when one actually has others to celebrate it with, that’s a fact.

Just because his sister is spending the holiday with her husband’s family while his parents take a long awaited trip to Hawaii doesn’t mean that Chris should mope.

Shit, being a bachelor, this is a perfect time to skulk the bars looking for fellow lonely men to drink the holiday away with, but tonight the thought doesn’t hold much appeal. Drinking with family and friends is one thing, but on Christmas eve it seems too pathetic to do amongst a roomful of strangers in a halfheartedly decorated bar. 

As luck would have it, another bachelor and Chris’ close friend, also alone this holiday, is currently driving over to his apartment to spend the night and more likely than not, the next week. It’s become a bad habit between the two of them, to seek the other out during holiday times when left adrift amidst the cheeriness of others. 

The knock at the door has Chris grinning at his silly melodramatic thoughts as he gets up from the couch, hollering that it’s unlocked. 

The sight of a windblown and heavily snowed-on Zach makes Chris scoff at the idea of needing family for Christmas. Who needed _that_ when they had their closest friend to spend the day with? The one concession they do make comes in the form of Zach’s surprise eggnog, that he'd made from scratch a couple of days ago.

“I thought you said we weren’t doing anything Christmas?” Chris smiled, eyebrow raised as he took the proffered cup of the festive drink. Zach shrugs, pretending at a sheepishness that he _clearly_ doesn’t feel, as he answers

“I wanted one homemade thing, before we stuff ourselves with take-out the rest of the night.” 

“Aww, does Zach secretly want to celebrate Christmas?” the blond can’t help teasing, winding an arm around his shoulders, pleased when the older man responds by copying him. Predictably, Zach snorts as he shakes his head and pulls them towards the couch

“Not in the least, Princess. Now come on, put on that kids' movie you wanted me to see.” 

“Hey! Shut up, it’s a _good_ movie!” 

\---

Four hours and too much homemade eggnog later the blond is restless, moving about the house with an itch under his skin. 

“The snow looks pretty with all the lights from the cars and streetlights.” Chris speaks, more thinking aloud than speaking to anyone in particular. He’s got his face and hands pressed to the chilly window, breathing heavily on the glass and drawing nonsensical designs in the fog. A moment passes, during which Chris hears the older man get up from the couch, before he’s stepping up close behind him and hooking his chin on the blonde's shoulder to peer at the lights as well. The intrusive thought of how much he likes the close warmth of the older man against his back isn't watered down by the alcohol. Rather, it seems to gain strength from the sugary booze. 

“You’re right, they are. You wanna take a walk?” Zach offers “Not too many people out on Christmas eve at this time.” He adds and Chris would have to be an idiot to say no to an offer like that. Secretly he’s glad he wasn’t the one to admit that he wanted to do something more than just mope. Moping was all well and good for the first couple of hours, but the falling snow tugged at Chris’ childhood memories and he was certain it had done the same for Zach. 

One more delicious shot of eggnog, because why not, and out the door they go. It must be all the alcohol that prompts Zach to offer Chris his hand. It’s too cold for the paparazzi to be out so Chris accepts with a smile and a gentle squeeze. They walk without any real destination in mind, snow crunching underfoot, the chill air scraping at their throats and faces. Even with the big possibility that Chris’ numb nose is running snot down his face without him noticing, and that his feet are becoming dead from the frigid temperatures, the blond can’t find that he minds all that much. The lights strung up through the park’s trees are bright bursts of colors, with Chris pointing out his favorite electric blue nets of lights. He finds out that Zach’s favorite are the dripping icicle kind. It’s nothing short of adorable to hear Zach talk about how those lights had fascinated him as a kid. 

By the time they make it back they’re both frozen and trembling, though warm contentment has wound its way around Chris’ ribcage. Once inside and rid of their wet layers they abandon all pretense and each take a healthy dose of rum. And then Zach’s tapping on his phone causing pop music to well up, before he’s holding his hands out to Chris clearly wanting to dance. There's no way he can resist the chance to make a fool of himself with Zach, so he does the only logical thing and slides across the hardwood floor in his socks towards him. The older man gives a full belly laugh at this as he grasps Chris’ hands within his warm ones and they do a comical imitation of dancing; full of sways, turning in place, dips, and being twirled around at least once each by the other. By the time three songs have passed Chris has got his arms loosely draped around Zach’s shoulders, the older man’s hands on his hips, swaying to the slow number that’s come on. Partly to keep himself from staring at Zach’s neat mouth ticked up at the edges, Chris says 

“Wouldn’t it be funny if, to be ironic, we got a bunch of gaudy Christmas stuff?” Zach smiles and temptation is so close to making Chris its bitch. 

“Perfect.” He answers reaching out to turn off the music and allowing Chris the chance to slip out of his grasp before protesting that they have to keep the music on and turn it to Christmas tunes. The older man is clearly too mellow to argue and does as Chris says before they’re pulling on their boots and coats back on. 

It’s terribly cliche, them being buzzed from heavily spiked eggnog, but Chris doesn’t care, not when he’s got Zach at his side and he’s holding his hand once again. Them being together was supposed to be them bitching about Christmas and the ruthless industry the corporations have made it into, ignoring the decorations, movies and especially the music. But here they are tramping through the snow once more, the chilly wind sneaking up their coats as they laugh, talking about what they need for the apartment. They end up getting fairy lights first, which Zach makes the most horrendous joke when he throws them over Chris, saying he’s managed to catch a fairy. Even Zach can’t use the spiked eggnog as a cover for that. But Chris is feeling too light to scold him for that utterly crappy joke. Next on the list, well really, what’s in sight next, is four garlands, three boxes of Christmas lights, two sprigs of pretend mistletoe, stockings for them both and two gaudy Santa mugs. 

Once home they top off with one last glass of eggnog, and their Christmas mania is back. Chris for his part makes sure to keep Zach out of his bedroom, though it’s hard, since he’s giggling way too much and struggling to pin the fairy lights up the way he wants to. It is after this battle that he is assailed by the holiday tunes that Zach’s got turned up in the livingroom. The wash of colors from the lights pinned around the windows and front door are a surprise but a delightful one. Zach got more done then Chris did, in his giggling struggle with the fairy lights. By the time they’ve settled in to watch _Nightmare Before Christmas_ , Chris making popcorn for the occasion, he doesn’t even notice that Zach’s put mistletoe on the back of the couch. It isn’t until the older man points it out that Chris looks and laughs at seeing it there. 

“Does that mean I get to kiss you during the movie?” He asks, flushing a moment later at how desperate that no doubt sounds. The sting of his embarrassment lessens when Zach answers, “Of course.” 

By the time the movie has ended they’re both drowsing, though Chris gets Zach to move towards the bedroom by making good use of the mistletoe.

\----

In the morning Chris manages to slip out of bed without waking Zach to pee and shower because, god his mouth is caked with fuzz from all the eggnog. After that, he sets the coffee maker, deciding they may as well keep being festive, and puts in the peppermint coffee Zach must have grabbed at some point. By the time he peeps into his bedroom Zach’s awake, though clearly only just. He’s still rubbing at his eyes, looking drowsy. _Jesus_ he looks so handsome and silly with his hair disheveled like that. 

“Can I still kiss you even though there's no mistletoe?” Chris asks without thinking, making Zach squint blearily at him as if he doesn’t understand the question. A wave of heat prickles down his back, alright, not quite the reaction he thought he was going to get, causing him to fumble over his words when he quickly amends “I meant - because the mistletoe behind you…” He mumbles rubbing the back of his hot neck looking at the covers. 

“Chris, you can kiss me whenever you want to,” Zach states as he slides out of bed “Although you might want to wait until I’ve brushed my teeth.” He grins even as he moves towards Chris, sliding his arms around the younger man’s shoulders as the blond smiles, nuzzling his neck, before kissing his jaw in deference to aforementioned morning-breath mouth.

**Author's Note:**

> My lovely beta has done a fabulous job on cleaning and shaping up this ficlet. It would not look or read half as well without the time and care they put into editing it. Thank you for a great job <3


End file.
